[Rob Babcock]

I would never get rid of my CDs and/or jewel cases.  It's not being a dinosaur- it's being smart.  First, as Josh noted, it's illegal.  If you rip them and then transfer ownership, even without financial compensation, it's probably a violation of the DMCA.  Secondly, and as a purely practical matter, what happens if your drive crashes?  I've known some unfortunate souls who decided to make a few bucks off their CD collections by ripping them & then selling them.  One such shmuck actually had his drive crash a week later!   At a minimum you'd want to back it to a second (or 3rd) drive if you no longer had access to the originals.

I'd suggest just boxing the cases, art & all.  Put in the attic/basement/storage unit.  Undoubtedly you'll want to access them again...same for the CDs.

[nathanm]

If one reads the first post again they'll see that  ZLS is NOT trying to sell the CDs and keep his digital files, he only wants to get rid of the plastic case for space savings.  I thought he made that very clear.   There's nothing illegal or unethical about any of this.

[mcullinan]

Nooooo! Noooo!! Dont do IT!!! Jesus Man have you lost every marble in your mind! No No No!!!! omg I am calling Fica, FEMA, and The Spork Institute of America.
Mike

[boead]

If you make a 16/44 WAV or AIFF then you can likely just transcode, up-res or whatever else might be available in the future but having the original CD is likely best besides I found that most dedicated HiFi CDP’s sound best compared to most PC based solutions.

You would need one hell of a DAC with either a VERY good DIO or USB conduit to compete with an Arcam, Meridian, Naim or similar high end CD player. I like my Scott Nixon USBTD and I’ve had and heard lots of great DAC’s but at the price point of an Arcam FMJ or similar (especially a year or two used off Audiogon) there is NO comparison, the CDP sounds best. In a few years that might change as USB/DAC’s mature and high end audio companies start making them and as storage becomes larger, cheaper and more easily backed up. But right now YOUR CD’s are best and can be re-ripped to whatever format you like when the time is right.

[launche]

As I understand the poster just wants to get rid of the cases for space saving.

Funny, these CD to Hard Drive storage situations reminds me of the vinyl-CD conversion somewhat.  So in 10-20 yrs some people will be saying CD sounded so much better, so much more fundamentally right, like real music.  Why oh why did I ever burn my CD's to hard drive and/or sell/abandom the cd format. I miss the physical aspect of spinning my CD's;opening the jewel case, flipping through the booklet, loading the disc tray, cleaning my CD's...it was a ritual for me.

[boead]

Yeah, funny and somewhat true but the format(s) are ultimately limited to the source material. In the days of analog records, sources were analog tape. The analog to digital conversions, for the most part, never work out as well. Most of today’s music is recorded or at least mixed digitally. Everything is in the digital domain but in the Redbook 16/44 format. Up-converting just doesn’t work all that well in practice.
But one would think that transferring digital CD to hard drive shouldn’t matter and really it doesn’t except we have forgotten about the importance of the transport. There are plenty of great DAC available but they are only as good as the transport and for the most part computers are poor transports. People like to conveniently forget this fact.
USB is, in my opinion, the way to go. As DAC manufacturers design their products (chips) to allow for direct conversion without having to convert to SPDIF first, the digital domain will stay intact more easily or properly. USB/DAC’s will come to age and can then replace digital CD’s as the source.
But what about HiRes?

[Mightyburner]

I used these leather binders.  They look good and you can always buy more CD insert pages.

http://www.caselogic.com/120_capacity_multi_media_album/product_detail/index.cfm?modelid=56390



I also put in the liner notes that way I can throw away the jewel case.

[boead]

CaseLogic makes nice stuff.

I use these;
http://www.caselogic.com/92_capacity_disc_case/product_detail/index.cfm?modelid=56445
They hold 92+ CD’s, I have 8 filled right now and can use another one or two. They are small, compact and zipper shut.

I put all my cases in a box in the attic.

[woodsyi]

Ha, Ha,

I just ordered standard single and double jewel cases.  I have all these caseless CDs from trading that I want to put in cases.   

[Russell Dawkins]

The coolest solution, and I don't think I've ever seen this anywhere, if someone knows of something let us know...would be a rack which allows CDs or even better, vinyl albums to be displayed face-out as a large scale wall mural of sorts.  I've been meaning to do this little carpentry project for awhile now.  It's not space efficient, but of course the point is that it exalts the CD as a proper objet d'art so they're no longer just a stack of plastic things, but an aesthetically pleasing collection.  Obviously you wouldn't put every CD you own in it, you'd run out of space.  But you'd put just the coolest covers in the rack and have the rest on regular shelving.

I guess this is not precisely what you had in mind, but it's close, Nathan:

http://www.slappa.com/site/wallmatz.html

[alwayslearning]

These look interesting from Jazz Loft & Cadence.  Appear to be inexpensive & convenient.  I'm curious as to how readable the outside facing spine labels are?   Your thoughts if you use/used these?
from Jazz Loft

http://www.jazzloft.com/p-34281-space-saving-cd-sleeves.aspx


which look identical (?) to the CD Sleeve from Cadence:


http://www.cadencebuilding.com/cadence/cdsleeve.html

[nathanm]

Russell: Cool idea, although I never liked to break up the package.  Then you've got a bunch of empty jewel cases laying around.  But obviously it makes sense there for weight concerns.

I found this interesting from the Jazz Loft site:

A couple of years ago, I found the solution. It has almost literally saved my life, and I'd like to spread the word to any other suffering souls. It is a plastic CD sleeve put out by Jazz Loft. I'm sure other companies put out similar products, but my loyalty is to Jazz Loft. It takes up about one-tenth the space of a jewel case. I've been able to squirrel away a thousand or more new CDs without needing an inch of extra space.

- Alex Ross, Music Critic for New Yorker Magazine

Literally saved his life?  Jewel cases literally saved his life?  How?  He doesn't say!  A shelf of 10,000 of them fell on top of his head and if they had been regular CD cases he would've been crushed?  Talk about overstating your case! Har!  But even moreso, he says ALMOST literally saved his life.  So, is he dead?

[Russell Dawkins]

Russell: Cool idea, although I never liked to break up the package.  Then you've got a bunch of empty jewel cases laying around. 

I think you don't just leave them lying around - you just send them to lonewolfny42!

It's called recycling - or maybe cycling, not sure.